Identity Theft

Cost of this growing crime in America is thought to exceed 50 billion dollars annually, and millions of Americans are victimized each year and left to deal with the damage caused. People are losing their homes, families are torn apart and sanity is challenged trying to learn to cope with the growing problem of identity theft.

And yet with just a small amount of effort and education, you yourself can be protected from identity theft in the space of only 60 minutes (or less). Be one of the smart ones to gain the knowledge needed to protect yourself. We all take great effort to make sure the homes we live in, our valuable possessions and of course our loved ones are safe from harm.

Why wouldn't we find our own financials, banking, loan status and credit score to be so unimportant. Many of these identity theft criminals get off easy, some even with simple fines while the victims can spend years trying to restore their credit and banking reputations.

If all of us Americans took the preventative steps necessary to protect ourselves from these criminals, we would be close to eliminating identity theft altogether. With some simple techniques which are easy to employ, anyone can protect themselves, it seems to be the knowledge of how to do it that we Americans are lacking. Making us the perfect "mark" for these con-artists.

Basically, I am assuming that you are aware of the basics of protecting your financial assets such as "keep your sensitive bank docments locked up" or "don't carry your pin numbers with you". This is far from true security but still is important and basic common knowledge for most of us.

The most important first step and to start the proactive protection of your name and finances would be to place an "Initial Fraud Alert" on your credit report. It is important to remember that there are three major credit reporting agencies and all three need to be notified as well.

Once this fraud alert is placed, your identity and anyone sending reports or requesting credit scores from your name or social security is questioned. There are three important things that are accomplished when one puts a "Initial Fraud Alert" on their credit score reports.

First, your personal information can no longer be sold by the credit bureaus to ANY third parties for marketing purposes such as credit card solicitation, or credit pre-screening.

Second, it stops anyone who applies for credit with your social security number or personal information and makes them go the extra step before approval. The creditor is required to personally call the telephone number that you listed with the bureau and verify if the transaction is legitimate. You give this number to the bureaus when placing your fraud alert.

Third, the request of this Initial Fraud Alert entitles you to a Free copy of all three of your credit score reports from all three credit reporting agancies. This is one copy each of your current credit statistics from the three reporting agencies.

The intial fraud alert will last only 90 days and is placed fairly simply. However it is also a simple and easy decision to make to keep this alert in effect for longer and protect yourself. Once again, it is free and the only thing keeping most of us Americans form protecting ourselves is simply knowledge of how to do it.

To extend the Initial Fraud Alert and obtain the same benefits for the full 7 years from the date of start, you simply need to write a letter and mail it to the three agencies. Think of it, for the price of three stamps, you can protect yourself for 7 years. And to think also that people pay a monhtly fee to  "indentity theft protection companies" to do the same thing for them.

When you receive the letter from the credit bureaus regarding the intial fraud alert you placed and the 90 days of protection, simply write a letter back to them in the right format and send it to the address the bureau provided and protection is yours.

What is keeping us Americans from Identity Protection? It seems to simply be the proper Education!